Snæfellsnes to Bruarfoss — CESAR MENDEZ

After a good night sleep at the guest house, I looked outside the window and it was a beautiful sunny day, it was the first time that I saw the sun hitting directly without a layer of clouds underneath. I felt so rested that I was in an incredible mood full of energy, my first thought was to go outside and look around the small town of Grundarfjörður and find something nice to eat at whatever the cost. After some scouting I found a small restaurant, it was nice and clean. Looking through the menu I found that they serve a lobster roll, fancy, but also pricey. Looking for a cheaper choice, I saw that there was only a small difference between a regular sandwich and the lobster sandwich, so this time, without hesitation I chose the lobster roll to pamper myself, after all the struggle, I certainly deserve it.

I enjoyed the lobster roll very much, but, I was expecting something better for 25 dollars, I know, Iceland is crazy expensive, but I needed a break from gas station hot dogs or van made sandwiches.

That day the sun was nice and bright, it felt like it was going to be an awesome day after all the stormy days. So, I decided to get back on the road.

Passing by Kirkjufell I stopped at a view point by the road, just to have a good look at it, perhaps this is the last time I visit this location. without giving too much thought I continue my way around the peninsula.

This time, the only plan was to drive around and see what I could find, obviously I knew that I had to stop at Londrangar Cliffs and I wanted to see the black church in Búðir. The drive was very nice, the sun was up but the winds were still strong, not as strong as the day before, but strong enough to challenge myself and my tripod for taking a sharp shot.

My first stop around the peninsula was in the small town of Ólafsvík to refuel and gather some supplies for the journey.

On my way to Londrangar I saw a small road that leads you to a crater, the name, Saxhólar Crater. I parked the van, grabbed my camera and up I went to the top of the crater to explore. The winds were implacable, as I reach the summit of the crater there was this beautiful vista of the peninsula, but it was hard to even stand because of the gusts of winds, so I didn’t stay much longer.

Continue my drive around and see another small road deviation going to what it seems another crater, this time I decided not to explore it as the conditions weren’t ideal. I wanted to dedicate more time to Londrangar.

I set up Google maps to take me directly to Londrangar, the maps took me to another small road that lead me to a parking lot, there was a small museum with photographs of the peninsula, after taking a look around I saw that I was at the Londrangar lighthouse, the perspective I wanted to photograph was still a few kilometers ahead. Once I found the right place, I grabbed my gear and went directly to the cliffs.

This place is amazing but dangerous, the first time I saw a picture of Londrangar was on Photographing the World with Elia Locardi, the place looked cool but being there is a different story, the cliffs are huge, and they could be deathly if you don’t take extra safety measures. The place is almost in its raw state, no delimitations, no fences, just a small overlook platform; there are parts where there’s not even a small rope to tell you no to get close to edge, in fact, you can stand right on the edge if you want, the thing is, if you slip and fall, is a sure death. The sheer drop must be around 100 to 150 meters into the sea.

Londrangar are basalt volcanic dikes sticking out from the ocean, it is the result of a crater erosion. One is 75 meters tall and the other 61.

Looking for Londrangar, I found the lighthouse near the cliffs.

Because I cherish my life very much, I decided to stand on the overlook platform to take the photographs, the only bad thing was that It was super tall, so I had to extend my tripod to its highest position which reduces its stability. The winds were outrageously strong, it could easily push somebody off the cliff, that´s why the decision of guarding myself in the platform.

It was the middle of the day with some clouds in the sky, but the sun was as harsh as it gets. So, I had to pull out my ND filters, I didn’t need a super slow shutter speed, I just wanted to slow it down to 1 second to give the waves some texture. The wind was constantly battling with me, and the 150 mm filters weren’t helping to stabilize the camera, it was like opening a parachute. I rushed myself on this one, I thought that I could loose or break the filters and the light wasn’t as pleasing, so I just document my visit there and decided to move on.

Continuing my journey around the Snaefellsnes peninsula, descending from the Snæfellsjökull mountain road I spotted the black church of Búðir from the distance, I though that the little town of Búðir would be similar in size as the other towns, but this one has only a couple of two-story buildings and the church, that’s it! Then I learned that is not even a town, the two buildings are a small hotel, I think it used to be a small town, but it burned down many years ago.

I parked by the church, and there were only one more couple wondering around. The sun was still very high in the sky, but some clouds were softening the light a little bit.

I shot some different compositions, I got close with my wide angle and then I tried some far away using my 70-200 mm to try to isolate the church compressing the background, in this case the mountain range in the distance. I tried different things like changing my aperture to see if I could do something more interesting with selective focus.

I have seen photos from this location at night or with the aurora and they look fantastic. But my short trip to Iceland didn’t make it worth it to spend a sunset or night at this location, so, I just documented my visit and moved on.

By 4 o’clock in the afternoon I looped around the Snaefellsnes peninsula, I know that I didn’t grasp the surface, but this is how I planned to explore it, simple and quick, and, because I thought that I had the pictures that I came for, I started my way back towards the golden circle in direction to Geysir and Gullfoss without knowing what I was going to do or even where I was going to spend the night.

I drove all the way back to the golden circle, and on my way, I spotted a signed leading to Bruarfoss, initially I didn’t knew if I would bother to find Bruarfoss location because I read in a couple of blogs that the usual path was closed for tourists as it was private land. But being so close to it I decided it to give a try, so, I follow the signs on the road until lead me to the private land that I just mention, and there was a sign warning you that were about to enter private property, so, I backed off and left before I could get into trouble.

But I was already there, now I couldn’t just leave. Turning around to get out of the property I spotted the new signs that leads you to Bruarfoss, I got excited and followed them. These signs take you to another property besides the river. To get to the waterfall you just must follow the shore line along the river through the bushes.

The journey became a difficult one as it just rained, and the path was super muddy making it so hard to walk on, and not only that, walking through the bushes and branches is not an easy task with a backpack full of gear and a tripod. I was once again the only one there, and the sun was setting, I got a little bit worried that it could get dark before I get there or on my way back which would’ve sucked so hard as the terrain was hard to pass, my mind always asses the dangers, and there was a small chance that I could get stuck in the mud or maybe slip into the river which it has a very strong flow due to a series of waterfalls that you need to pass to get to Bruarfoss. I made the decision that if along the way there was a risky or dangerous pass I would just abandon and turn back. Thankfully I never felt in imminent danger.

After 40 minutes walking I arrived at the wooden bridge that crosses the river and here is where you can photograph the waterfall in a very center composition. To my luck I arrived just before sunset, the sun aligned perfectly in the center of the frame and the waterfall. Took my ND filters and framed my composition, a simple centered composition.

Thankfully nobody was there, I can’t imagine to be able to get a sharp shot here standing on the wooden bridge with a 100 people walking around.

This is a location that you could explore for a while, there are many compositions that you could try, sadly in my case, I just took a couple compositions and left the place as it was getting darker by the minute and I had a 40-minute walk through the bushes to get back to the van.

On my way back, I stopped a couple more times to photograph the other waterfalls downstream, and even if they are not as impressive as Bruarfoss, they are also beautiful.

Happy with the results of today’s adventure, I decided to drive to Geysir as I located a camping site on the map over there. The drive was only a few kilometers away from my actual location. Once there I saw the sky exploding in colors as the sunset progressed. In fact, the sunset lasted roughly a couple of hours, which gave the opportunity to capture it at Bruarfoss and later at Geysir.

I thought that Geysir park would be closed, but to my surprise it wasn’t, as almost every location in Iceland is open 24/7 even in places like Geysir where you could get seriously hurt. I really appreciate this approach, because I strongly believe that everybody is responsible for their own safety.

The place smelled of sulfuric acid. It was midnight, and nobody was there anymore. The place all to myself once again. There were soft colors in the sky, the last ones before the blue hour. I just had time for one composition before I lose the light.

I framed Geysir in a simple composition, I had my cable release ready in continuous shooting, so, when Geysir erupts I will be ready. I set up my exposure to have a shutter speed of about 1/10 sec. The eruption from Geysir will be fast, so, that shutter will be enough to show movement and texture in the water.

After I took the shot I went back to the van to backup all the files. Sunrise was only a couple of hours away. I was tired, but not that much, it was going to be harder to go to bed and then wake up in two hours. I decided to go and explore Gullfoss waterfall in the dark, the drive was only 10 to 15 minutes from Geysir. Once there, I though of stopping there and wait for sunrise. I decided not to because there were many signs telling you not to camp there. So far, I didn’t get into trouble, being almost the end of the trip, I didn’t want to find trouble at this point. So, I just walked to have a look to the waterfall by night, the moon was lighting the landscape, very pretty, massive and super loud waterfall.

I drove back to Geysir campsite as it started raining heavily. I kept watch to see if the rain would stop and have a chance of a sunrise, but no, the cloud covered all the sky. It was better to go to sleep and start fresh again the next morning.

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